In less than 3 weeks, Google Reader will be gone — for good.
This might not mean anything to some of you — but for many of you who use Google Reader to subscribe to my blog (and to so many other blogs) this means that after July 1, 2013, you will no longer see any of my new blog posts.
No more recipes, no more simple tips, no more yard work or home renovations, no more Nora pictures.
You’re already feeling sad, aren’t you?
Nora is also quite upset.
Well, don’t worry, I have good news…
There are still plenty of other ways you can follow along with all the new content and blog posts I have planned here at AndreaDekker.com.
1. Subscribe via email.
This is an extremely simple solution — one that only requires you to enter your email address here, enter the verification code, and then follow the instructions in the confirmation email you will receive within minutes.
By subscribing via email, you will receive one email each day I post new content on my blog (roughly 5 emails per week) and it would assure that you never, ever miss any of my content ever again (unless you aren’t in the habit of opening or reading your emails!)
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2. Follow (a.k.a. ‘LIKE’) on Facebook.
Although Facebook is not the most reliable source of content delivery, I do post every single blog post update on the AndreaDekker.com Facebook page. So if you click the “LIKE” button on my Facebook page, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll see links to my blog posts coming through your own Facebook feed.
Of course, you are welcome to LIKE my Facebook wall even if you choose to subscribe in another way too. I share a whole bunch of EXTRA tips, ideas, photos, and inspiration on Facebook, so it’s a nice compliment to the content that’s already on my blog.
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3. Visit AndreaDekker.com directly.
This option will require the most work on your part — but it’s still pretty simple 🙂
If you don’t use Facebook, you don’t want 5 extra emails per week, and you don’t want to use a blog subscription service (I talk about this in #4 below), the only way you can make sure you don’t miss out on the daily new blog posts is by visiting AndreaDekker.com directly each day (or at least a couple times a week!)
The newest blog posts show up at the top… making it pretty convenient for you to quickly scan through to see what content might interest you the most.
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4. Transfer your Google Reader subscriptions to Feedly.
From what I’m hearing around the blog world, Feedly is an awesome alternative for anyone interested in transferring their Google Reader subscriptions.
I have personally transferred my Google Reader subscriptions to Feedly (along with over 3,000,000 others!) It seems to be working well for me — however, I personally prefer to subscribe via email to most of the blogs I follow.
If you are currently using Google Reader or just looking for a relatively simple and organized way to follow along with your favorite blogs, I’d encourage you to give Feedly a try (it’s totally free, by the way, and I don’t get anything for promoting them).
Some of you might be thinking, “That’s great, but how do I go about switching to Feedly?”
Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered!
Since there are a whole bunch of other bloggers who have explained the process of switching from Google Reader to Feedly, I figure it’s a much better use of my time to direct you to that information than to re-write everything myself — especially since I should probably be planting flowers and spreading wood chips right about now.
If you’re looking for good Google Reader alternatives as well as simple instructions on how to make the switch, click through to one or more of the posts below for lots more information.
More Info About Feedly
The Feedly blog has lots more information about transitioning from Google Reader here and here. If you don’t find what you’re looking for in one of those posts, try searching the Feedly blog (the search bar is kind of hidden in the left side bar).
No surprise that Blogging With Amy has some good alternatives to Google Reader. Amy also assures us that although Feedly can sync up with Google Reader for easy transfer of information Feedly will NOT disappear once Google Reader disappears on July 1.
Simple Mom shares tons of helpful tips and advice for how make the switch to Feedly. She walks you through the installation and set-up process step-by-step, shows tons of pictures, and even explains a bit about the Feedly smart phone App.
Life Your Way discusses the Google Reader – Feedly transition process, as well as how simple it is to use Feedly on Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and as an App on any of your tablets and smart phones.
I don’t love change — and I assume many of you are in the same boat. However, if you’re currently using Google Reader to follow your favorite blogs, you must make a change before July 1, 2013.
From my experience, it should’t be a painful change!
How do you follow my blog (or other blogs)?
Email, facebook, by visiting the blog directly, or via a feed reader?
If you currently use Google Reader, have you made the switch yet?
If you made the switch, did you switch to Feedly or another option?
Kelly says
I’ve been a longtime google reader devotee, but I am trying to switch over to using email subscriptions… seems like it might be a better fit, and I wasn’t super thrilled with feedly or bloglovin.
Question, though. I have about 10 sites that don’t have obvious email subscription options on their site, though some have an RSS button. Any idea how to subscribe via email to those? Some are big name blogs, and others are just friends’ personal blogs…
Andrea says
Hmmm, I’m honestly not sure about this. Could you give me an example of one of the sites you can’t subscribe to via email? Did you figure out how to subscribe via email to this blog?? 🙂
Kelly says
I think I figured it out… though we’ll know tomorrow morning when I see if I have posts in my inbox from them! 🙂
Here is an example:
http://theforneyflyer.blogspot.com/
They are sites that don’t seem to have an email subscription set up through feedburner, etc.
What I did (in case anyone else has the same question) – found the RSS feed and copied and pasted it into http://blogtrottr.com/ – blogtrottr essentially makes an email subscription for the blog.
Thanks for the post!
Andrea says
Ok thanks — I just checked out that blog and I didn’t see an email subscription option either. Hopefully your method works — I personally prefer getting posts via email too. I just read them and delete.
Karen J says
I tried Feedly and Bloglovin. I didn’t care for Feedly but found Bloglovin extremely user friendly and very easy to change to. Would highly recommend it. It is very easy to find new blogs also there also.
Lizanne says
I’m new to the blog world (I don’t even know how Google Reader or any of these others work!), so I only know how to follow things I like through direct email subscription. Seems easier to me. If there’s an advantage to using one of these other formats, I’d like to know!
Andrea says
I personally prefer reading blogs via email too — but if you subscribe to lots and lots of blogs, a feed reader can help to keep them more organized.
Cammy@TippyToeDiet says
I’m using theoldreader.com. Looks a lot like g reader and easy to transfer. (I also liked feedly, but they were having a lot of outages when I was testing it.)
Amy says
Same here! I tried Feedly and gave up after having too many issues, and now I’m using The Old Reader. I like it for the most part (and definitely better than Feedly), but often it doesn’t read new blog posts for hours or even days, in some cases. And I can’t get it to read danoah.com for anything!
Cammy@TippyToeDiet says
I just tried it and was able to add danoah.com to my TOR subscriptions by using the Add a Subscription button. I wouldn’t think it would make a difference, but I’m using Firefox. (These quirky inconsistencies intrigue me. :))
Heart and Haven says
Grrr, can’t use Feedly without making more changes (is not supported on IE, and I don’t have a smartphone to use on an app).
Will have to keep researching options…perhaps some in the comments above with help.
Andrea says
Yeah, I knew that Feedly didn’t work with IE — but I just figured most people didn’t use IE anymore 🙂 I’m sure you’ve been pursuaded to switch browswers already, but if not, I’d most definitely recommend Chrome. It’s awesome and only has a tiny learning curve. I can almost guarantee you’ll be happy you made the switch. Plus, then you can try Feedly –LOL 🙂
Heart and Haven says
My husband (a computer programmer) has tried to convince me to switch to Chrome as well, lol! I’ve used it on his computer, and just don’t like it though.
Ann says
I have already switched to Feedly & like it fine! Thanks for your help though!
Doreen says
I used to follow you via Google Reader. However, I switched to Feedly about two months ago and love it! After my initial {short} learning period, I found Feedly better than Google Reader and certainly easier to use on my android phone.
Ginny says
Facebook mostly, but am always coming here when I am organizing a project or purging so I never miss anything 🙂
Andrea says
Aw thanks Ginny!
Chamaine says
Hi Andrea, I use Bloglovin to subscribe to your blog. I have been using them since Sept /12 and so far I am really happy with it.
Joni says
I use bloglovin too. It is easier to use and you can view pictures better. I didn’t care for feedly.
Chalyse Meiklejohn says
I won’t miss any posts because I like you on Facebook and have had your blog bookmarked on Google Chrome for a year and a half! 🙂
Dawn says
I’ve been using bloglovin’ and really like it.
Happy says
The Old Reader is a good reader, very similar to Google Reader, and the transfer from Google was very easy for me.
http://theoldreader.com/
Ann says
I resubscribed with another email address since this one will be no longer used within a week.
Melissa says
I use bloglovin. I really like that. It seems to be working so far:)
Liz says
I personally like http://blogtrottr.com/ – its like subscribing via email but its still rss 🙂